Joe Strange - Bring on the Premier League

14 July 2010 02:00

A month of bore draws, dodgy refereeing and players kicking lumps out of one another finally came to an end on Sunday evening - and I for one couldn't be happier.

The World Cup provided us all with a much-needed football fix during the summer, but unless you happen to be Spanish, that's all it did.

Apart from the occasional screamer and the odd goal-line handball, the tournament was hardly a classic by any stretch of the imagination.

Too many red cards, too much negativity and not enough football were its main downfalls - not to mention the ever-annoying drone of the vuvuzelas.

And as nice as it was to get home from work and chill out with Nigeria v Korea Republic on the box, for the most part the tournament failed to live up to expectation - at least from an entertainment perspective.

Having watched almost 50 of the 64 games on offer, World Cup overload only served to whet my footballing appetite.

But as attractive as Rob Green howlers, John Terry rants and dismal England performances might be, the start of the new Premier League season can't come soon enough.

The performances of Fabio Capello's side in South Africa don't need dissecting again, there's been more than enough of that over the past two-and-a-half weeks.

But while many have criticised the manager, players and the entire national setup, the Three Lions' failure only managed to reaffirm one thing in my own mind - how much I miss top-flight English football.

I've always invested more emotion in my club than my country, and after England's African adventure, that doesn't look like changing for a long, long time.

International football just doesn't have the same appeal as the domestic game.

There's not the excitement of the transfer window, that feeling of seeing your new foriegn superstar or the seemingly endless pre-season friendlies.

There's no big-kick off, no game to look forward to every week and no group of players that you can truly feel are 'yours'.

Even if you're not a fan of a club in the top division then the same rules still apply - Football League fans must be relishing the thought of a warm Bovril back on the terraces.

Don't be upset about England, you can be sure the players will have forgotten all about it as they sun themselves abroad.